In a message dated 12/10/98 5:45:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Visiting Dublin in June, I pulled out three loose bricks from the mixed fill
>  of a c. 1970 parking lot then being excavated for something new.

Chriftopher:

This may be a bit off point -- I don't have an answer for you on brick dating
(although I have dated a number of bricks in my lifetime) -- but I wonder if
you could share some thoughts on what's happening to Ireland's buildings as a
result of the new prosperity there.  How do the Irish feel about historic
preservation? Are their buildings too much a reminder of a painful past that
they would like to plow under, or do the Irish feel they are they worthy of
preserving?

I am "half Irish," but somehow that half seems to dominate my identity. My
sons are 1/4 Irish, and it seems to dominate their identity, too. When I last
visited there (many years ago), I was overwhelmed by the presence of ghosts
and ruins that seem so much a part of Irish heritage. I fear that the new
economic vitality may result in the loss of this somewhat mystical past, if
Ireland is not mindful.

Not that I would wish Ireland remain poor -- far from it -- but I would hate
to see it's history lost to parking lots and O'Wal*Marts.

Mary (fiercely Delaney) Krugman